Happy Birthday, Damon
by rookanga
Summary: It's Damon's birthday, but nobody knows. Horrible title. Could be seen as Damon/Caroline, but wasn't really meant to be.


**I know! I know! I shouldn't be writing something else when I have stories to continue. I should be working on those instead. But the Vampire Diaries all of a sudden got amazing! What was I supposed to do? Anyway I have another two oneshots also in progress, a (kind of) Daroline and a himym. This sort of takes place towards the end of the third season, but could go anywhere, I guess. No real spoilers, I don't think.**

11:17

Damon glanced around. Everyone was enjoying theirselves, laughing and chatting, vampire and human. (And witch, in Bonnie's case.) Why couldn't he just smoothly fit in with them, drink champagne, and harrass Liz-was Sheriff Forbes more sexual? Nah-and forget that in forty-three minutes, when everyone was ringing in what Caroline called "The new age of acceptance between vampires, council members who know who in this town is a vampire, witches, and Tyler (a mouthful, he knew), he would be the only one to know that he was officially one year closer to never ending?

He glanced hopefully at Stefan. But even his brother seemed to have forgotten. He and Jeremy were doing some weird bromantic ritual or something. As if. Damon was much closer with Jeremy than Stefan was.

Damn. Was he really saying that he was buddies with Elena's weakass little puppy of a brother? He must be more desperate than he thought.

11:25

"Damon!" Elena ran up and hugged him. She was clearly drunk. And why shouldn't she be? With everyone seemingly vying for Elena's death or her blood, she had a lot on her plate. Too much to be concerned with just deciding on a Salvatore brother, already.

Damon resented her. He needed her to choose. Damon, or Stefan, or neither, but just make it final already!

11:32

Caroline danced with Bonnie and Elena. The three girls were holding hands and hopping around in a circle as if they were five. Even Judgy didn't look so judgy. They all seemed happy, hopeful about the new age.

Yeah, right. Damon knew what the new age would bring. For Elena, it would mean the loss of yet another loved one. For Stefan, it would mean more worries about losing control. For Caroline, it would mean falling for yet another guy who didn't deserve her. And for Damon? For Damon it would just be more of the same: trying to disenchant himself, trying to get close to Elena, trying to save everyone, trying to save himself. It would be this way until every mortal in this room was dead, and then he would disappear.

11:46

"Hey, Damon. So what do you think about this so called 'new age' of Caroline's?"

Damon took a sip of his champagne. "It sounds like we're all really, really optimistic cavemen."

Stefan chuckled. He looked contentedly at the guests at Caroline's party. Damon glared at his cheek. Had he really forgotten?

Not that birthdays were even important, especially when you weren't strictly alive, but you would never die. But your birthday was the one day your world revolved around you. Except for Elena's last birthday, of course, when it was all about Stefan. The point was that Damon wanted attention. He wanted to be appreciated.

12:00

"Happy new age!" came a chorus of voices.

Damon approached Caroline. "Have I stayed long enough?" he asked. "Can I go?"

"No!" Caroline tapped a perfectly manicured nail on her champagne glass. "Everyone, I'd like to tell you the real reason I called you all here tonight. Many many years ago today, our friend Damon Salvatore was pushed from his mother's uterus, covered in placenta and screaming. Today marks the one hundred for seventieth anniversary of that day. So everyone, wish Damon a happy birthday!"

And then the chorus of voices was coming at him, crashing into him, too loud for his heightened hearing.

He looked over at Caroline. She was smiling brightly.

"How did you know it was my birthday?" he asked.

"You mentioned it once when you were using me for food," she replied, but there was nothing accusatory in her tone or on her bright, smiling face.

But there was fear and sadness behind her happy visage. Damon lowered his voice so only a vampire at such close a vicinity as Caroline was to him would be able to hear. "You are an amazing person, Caroline. Don't let anybody ever tell you differently because if they really think that, they don't know you." It was cheesy, but he hoped it would be enough.

"Thanks," she said at the same tone. "And you aren't the person you sometimes pretend to be. Happy birthday, Damon."

And it was the happiest one Damon could remember.


End file.
